Fresh Plum Napoleon

Plum fans take note: The jam recipe here is a stand-alone bonus, especially if that tree in the garden is overloaded. (You can triple the jam recipe below for a yield of two generous cups and store it in the refrigerator for up to one week.) Pastry novices should also note that this is one napoleon that holds together beautifully when sliced — so go for it.

Combine sugar and 1/4 cup water in heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves and syrup begins to thicken, about 2 minutes. Add plums and orange peel; reduce heat to medium and simmer until mixture is very thick and reduced to 3/4 cup, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Cool. Discard vanilla bean. (Pastry cream and plum jam can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover separately and chill.)

For napoleon:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place 1 puff pastry sheet on work surface. Brush 1 edge of sheet with cold water. Place 1 edge of second pastry sheet atop wet edge of first sheet, overlapping by 2 inches, pressing to adhere, and forming 18x10-inch rectangle. Using rolling pin, roll out pastry to 1 large sheet, 19 to 20 inches long and 11 inches wide. Transfer pastry to ungreased 18x12x1-inch baking sheet. Pierce pastry all over with fork. Using sharp knife, trim pastry to fit sheet. Bake until golden, occasionally piercing pastry with fork to deflate slightly, about 25 minutes (pastry will shrink to about 15x10-inch rectangle). Cool completely on sheet.

Carefully transfer pastry to cutting board. Using serrated knife, cut pastry into three 14x3-inch rectangles. Trim any puffed portions of pastry to flatten and even slightly. (Can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Cover with foil; let stand at room temperature.)

Place 1 pastry rectangle on long serving platter. Stir pastry cream to loosen. Spread 1 cup pastry cream over pastry rectangle, leaving 1/2-inch plain border at all edges (reserve remaining pastry cream for another use). Place second pastry rectangle, flat side up, on cardboard rectangle or 18-inch-long ruler. Spread with half of jam (generous 1/3 cup) to cover. Top with sliced plums in neat lines, skin side facing out. Using cardboard rectangle or ruler as aid, slide pastry with plums atop pastry cream layer, plum side up. Spread remaining plum jam over flat side (underside) of third pastry rectangle. Place jam side down on plums on second pastry layer. Dust top of pastry with powdered sugar. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature; do not refrigerate.)

Menus & Tags

Tags:

Leave a Review

Reviews

Outstanding, rich flavor, and beautiful to look at. Note that this dessert depends on the quality of the plums you have available. You'll need fully ripe, flavorful fruit for best results.
The pastry cream recipe is wonderful, with the cream cheese lending both stability and depth. I didn't need to strain it.
For the plum jam, I omitted the orange zest, added 2 teaspoons of Grand Marnier instead (for a more complex orange), and 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Since 20 minutes ended up reducing it too far, I added some fresh squeezed plum juice. Flavor was absolutely perfect. (NB: I did have to strain the jam to remove all skins). One bonus is that it fills the house with an irresistible aroma! (For best taste, make cream and jam one day in advance.)
I used Dufour pastry dough, which packages only 14oz, and mine shrunk from 14" to 11", so this only made 5 portions for me. Also the amount of sliced plums it called for was more than twice what I actually needed (and to match picture they needed to be sliced 1/8" thin). But overall, this dessert impressed me a lot. It is one of the finest looking and best tasting recipes I've tried in a long time. An easy but elegant crowd pleaser!

Very, very good! I do not like orange flavor particularly, therefore, left out the zest. I did however, add some cinnamon to the plum jam (1 tsp) and it was so tasty! Very light dessert, that has a lot of flavor. Will make again for sure! I feel this dessert is very versatile as well and any other kind of fruit would be great, especially berries.

I made this recipe
after craving
millefeuille the
other day (I used to
stop at a bakery
nearly every day
while I lived in
France for one).
While good tasting,
the end result was
less than the sum of
its parts. The
pastry cream was
FABULOUS - I will
definitely use the
cream recipe again.
The jam tasted a
bit bland and
orangey to me - I
would consider
adding more sugar
and halfing the
amount of orange
peel (I used fresh).
If I make this
recipe again I will
cut the plums for
the inner layer
thinner or forgo
them all together in
favor of the
preserves. I would
also consider using
a fourth layer of
pastry so that I can
add a second layer
of the cream, and
would roll my pastry
layers thinner.
Overall, it tastes
good but not the
amazing dessert I
expected. I would
make it again with
some revisions.

This was gone in minutes! I took this to a game night party and everyone loved it. I served the extra pastry cream along side it so that people could dollop more on, the bowl was clean. The plums were very easy to work with. What a wonderful way to use all the beautiful fresh plums that are in season. I alternated red flesh and white flesh plums on top, very pretty.

A wonderful summer dessert! The pastry cream was wonderful and I made this recipe again substituting fresh strawberries and strawberry preserves for the plums and it was still fantastic. A big hit with all of the folks I've fed different versions too!